Chunguang Hu

Mechanical and Electrical Anisotropy of Few-Layer Black Phosphorus

We combined reflection difference microscopy, electron transport measurements, and atomic force microscopy to characterize the mechanical and electrical anisotropy of few-layer black phosphorus. We were able to identify the lattice orientations of the two-dimensional material and construct suspended structures aligned with specific crystal axes. The approach allowed us to probe the anisotropic mechanical and electrical properties along each lattice axis in separate measurements. We measured the Youngs modulus of few-layer black phosphorus to be 58.6 ± 11.7 and 27.2 ± 4.1 GPa in zigzag and armchair directions. The breaking stress scaled almost linearly with the Youngs modulus and was measured to be 4.79 ± 1.43 and 2.31 ± 0.71 GPa in the two directions. We have also observed highly anisotropic transport behavior in black phosphorus and derived the conductance anisotropy to be 63.7%. The test results agreed well with theoretical predictions. Our work provided very valuable experimental data and suggested an effective characterization means for future studies on black phosphorus and anisotropic two-dimensional nanomaterials in general.

Forced protein unfolding leads to highly elastic and tough protein hydrogels

Protein-based hydrogels usually do not exhibit high stretchability or toughness, significantly limiting the scope of their potential biomedical applications. Here we report the engineering of a chemically crosslinked, highly elastic and tough protein hydrogel using a mechanically extremely labile, de novo designed protein that assumes the classical ferredoxin-like fold structure. Due to the low mechanical stability of the ferredoxin-like fold structure, swelling of hydrogels causes a significant fraction of the fold structure domains to unfold. Subsequent collapse and aggregation of unfolded ferredoxin-like fold structure domains leads to intertwining of physically and chemically crosslinked networks, entailing hydrogels with unusual physical and mechanical properties: a negative swelling ratio, high stretchability and toughness. These hydrogels can withstand an average strain of 450% before breaking and show massive energy dissipation. Upon relaxation, refolding of the ferredoxin-like fold structure domains enables the hydrogel to recover its massive hysteresis. This novel biomaterial may expand the scope of hydrogel applications in tissue engineering.

Characterization of static and dynamic microstructures by microscopic interferometry based on a Fourier transform method

The surface profile and dynamic characteristics are some of the important specifications that influence the performance and stability of a MEMS device. Microscopic interferometry is, up to now, the most widely used technique for surface profiles of microstructures, and is also capable of measuring out-of-plane motion of microstructures with stroboscopic illumination. In this paper, a stroboscopic Mirau microscopic interferometer system was developed by integrating some commercially available components and instruments. In order to obtain a lower acquisition time and improve the measurement accuracy and stability of interference phases, an improved Fourier transform method (FTM) for fringe pattern analysis is described. It is necessary to process two interferograms with different phase shifting to achieve reliable phase demodulation in the measurement of surface profile. Out-of-plane motion can be calculated from one interferogram sequence, in which only one interferogram per motion phase is collected. Experimental studies of the measurement of a microcantilever surface profile and out-of-plane motion are described, and the measurement results are compared with that of a five-step phase-shifting method. It is demonstrated that stroboscopic microscopic interferometry based on a FTM can be used to determine the static and dynamic characteristics of microstructures.

Optical referencing in differential reflectance spectroscopy

We report a new optical set-up for difference reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) measurements based on a two-beam configuration. By normalizing the reflected intensity from the sample surface with a reference signal that is directly proportional to the incident beam intensity, the calculated DR spectra become insensitive to the instability of the light source. As a result, a significantly improved signal-to-noise ratio is obtained and DR signals in the low 10−4 range can be measured reliably. This enables an extremely high sensitivity for surface studies using optical spectroscopy.

Reversible Unfolding and Folding of the Metalloprotein Ferredoxin Revealed by Single-Molecule Atomic Force Microscopy

Plant type [2Fe-2S] ferredoxins function primarily as electron transfer proteins in photosynthesis. Studying the unfolding-folding of ferredoxins in vitro is challenging, because the unfolding of ferredoxin is often irreversible due to the loss or disintegration of the iron-sulfur cluster. Additionally, the in vivo folding of holo-ferredoxin requires ferredoxin biogenesis proteins. Here, we employed atomic force microscopy-based single-molecule force microscopy and protein engineering techniques to directly study the mechanical unfolding and refolding of a plant type [2Fe-2S] ferredoxin from cyanobacteria Anabaena. Our results indicate that upon stretching, ferredoxin unfolds in a three-state mechanism. The first step is the unfolding of the protein sequence that is outside and not sequestered by the [2Fe-2S] center, and the second one relates to the force-induced rupture of the [2Fe-2S] metal center and subsequent unraveling of the protein structure shielded by the [2Fe-2S] center. During repeated stretching and relaxation of a single polyprotein, we observed that the completely unfolded ferredoxin can refold to its native holo-form with a fully reconstituted [2Fe-2S] center. These results demonstrate that the unfolding-refolding of individual ferredoxin is reversible at the single-molecule level, enabling new avenues of studying both folding-unfolding mechanisms, as well as the reactivity of the metal center of metalloproteins in vitro.

Optimization for liquid crystal variable retarder-based spectroscopic polarization measurements

We present an approach for improving liquid crystal variable retarder (LCVR)-based spectroscopic polarization measurements. As deduced mathematically, the transfer coefficients from the random intensity noise to the signal noise are functions of modulation parameters of the LCVR, i.e., modulation range (MR) and initial retardation. Simulations allow more details about the roles of two parameters. A broad MR reduces effectively the values of the coefficients and leads to a better signal quality. However, as the MR narrows, initial retardation begins to influence the signal quality. To obtain a high-quality spectrum, a recommended solution is to settle the MR more than π at each wavelength. This treatment has two advantages: non-sinusoidal modulation becomes possible and the modulations do not average to zero. Moreover, it weakens the interference of non-uniform intensity distribution in wavelengths of the signal spectrum. These conclusions are proven in experiments. Further, this approach is valid for other polarimeters and ellipsometers based on LCVRs.

Retardation correction for photoelastic modulator-based multichannel reflectance difference spectroscopy

The wavelength dependence of the retardation induced by a photoelastic modulator (PEM) is a central issue in multichannel modulator-based spectroscopic ellipsometry and reflectance difference spectroscopy (RDS), where the optical signal is detected simultaneously at different wavelengths. Here we present a refined analysis of the modulator crystals retardation and its effect on the signal quality. Two retardation correction schemes that take into account the actual wavelength dependence of the stress-optic coefficient are introduced. It is demonstrated experimentally that both methods provide a better correction than the procedure currently used in multichannel RDS. We define quality factors to evaluate the actual performance of the multichannel detection system as compared with a wavelength adaptive single-channel experiment. These quality factors thus provide a useful guideline for choosing the appropriate PEM retardation or reference wavelength in a multichannel experiment.

Normal-incidence reflectance difference spectroscopy based on a liquid crystal variable retarder

We propose liquid crystal variable retarder-based reflectance difference spectroscopy for normal-incidence measurements. Principles, instrumentation, data collection and reduction, and calibration procedures are provided. The signal noise is better than 10-3, and the spectral range is from 1.6 to 2.4 eV with 346 photon energy channels. As a demonstration, reflectance difference signals of a multilayer pentacene film on poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film are presented with different polarization azimuths. The characteristic peaks at 1.8 and 1.97 eV, corresponding to the Davydov splitting of pentacene crystal, are observed, which indicate well-ordered in-plane anisotropic structure of pentacene crystal film on PET. Thanks to normal incidence, this design is immune to adjusting the optical structure for the measurements with different working distances, and the objective lens is easily integrated to realize microarea measurements.

Dependence of integrated acousto-optical devices with one and two modulated arms on the static phase difference

In this paper, we develop an analytical model of an integrated acousto-optical (AO) device with arms modulated by a single surface acoustic wave beam. A comparison between one-arm and two-arm modulation is presented, which shows that two-arm modulation can significantly enhance modulation efficiency by an optimized design. A detailed analysis of the influence of static phase difference on the behavior of the AO devices has been provided, and some interesting results have been obtained. These will be helpful for an optimized design of AO devices for different functionalities.

A high efficiency single molecule localisation algorithm with sub-pixel resolution based on fluorescence images

We introduce a technique of fast single molecule localisation including image de-noising and Gaussian mask sub-pixel refinement (IDGM) with the characteristics of simplicity, great computational efficiency as well as high accuracy and precision. The image de-noising corrects images suffering from background and shot noise, and the Gaussian mask is used to derive the centres of single molecules with sub-pixel resolution. We quantitatively evaluate the performance of IDGM compared to two-dimensional direct Gaussian fitting (2DDGF) on 1000 simulated images at variable signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), where the single molecule diffraction spot is simulated as a point spread function distribution. It is shown that IDGM performs better than 2DDGF in terms of accuracy and precision for all tested SNRs. In addition, the execution time is shorted by one order of magnitude, making the IDGM algorithm suitable for localising single molecules especially for on-line or time-critical applications.